


The Serpentine Sculpture Robbery Case

by dragonwiles



Category: D.N. Angel, Gundam Wing, Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling, Teen Titans - All Media Types, 名探偵コナン | Detective Conan | Case Closed, 幽☆遊☆白書 | YuYu Hakusho: Ghost Files
Genre: Complete, Humor, Mystery
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2007-10-21
Updated: 2007-11-18
Packaged: 2021-03-10 06:08:28
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 16,132
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27919498
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dragonwiles/pseuds/dragonwiles
Summary: Detective Conan Edogawa is skilled, but can he crack a case when the suspects are some of the most powerful villains and heroes from multiple storylines? Featuring characters from Harry Potter, Gundam Wing, Teen Titans, YYH, DNAngel, and more!





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> A quick note for those used to watching the English dub: I've decided to go with the original Japanese names for the characters in this story, so let's introduce them with a quick bio. By the way, this story originally referred to the Inspector as Merogane, but Chalicity helpfully pointed out that it's actually Megure:
> 
> Jimmy Kudo is really Shinichi Kudo: This high school supersleuth was famous throughout Japan for his razor sharp brain and uncanny ability to solve cases. A secret crime organization tried to finish him off with an untested poison. Instead, he was shrunk by the poison and became Conan Edogawa.
> 
> Conan Edogawa is a fake name Shinichi takes on to disguise his shrunken form; it is a combination of the names of mystery writers, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and Rampo Edogawa. Conan's height reduction gives him the illusion of being a grade schooler, and he masquerades as such to evade the notice of the criminals who shrunk him, until such time as he can find and capture them.
> 
> Detective Richard Moore is really Kogoro Mori: He used to work under Inspector Megure as a detective for the police department, but has since become a private detective. Following the advice of Prof. Agasa, Conan lives with Mori and Mori's daughter Ran, helping them solve cases and become more famous. Hopefully, the criminals who shrunk Conan will go after Mori once Mori becomes too famous- and this time Conan will be ready for them.
> 
> Rachel Moore is really Ran Mori: The beautiful daughter of Detective Mori is working towards being a model, and is also the captain of her high school's karate team. She and Shinichi Kudo were childhood friends, and it only after Shinichi was shrunk did he learn that Ran felt more than friendship for him. Shinichi has covered up his existence as Conan by claiming he is away on an important case, and Ran misses Shinichi immensely. She longs for Shinichi's return, for the day when she can, finally, beat him up for leaving her alone.
> 
> Inspector McGuire is really Megure: This no-nonsense man is in charge of a large jurisdiction, so large that he handles practically any case that Mori investigates. He has great respect for the conclusions of Kogoro Mori and Shinichi Kudo.

Next Conan's Hint: Wet Towel

Conan Edogawa says to the audience, "Hi, I'm Shinichi Kudo. But I go by the name Conan Edogawa because my body was shrunk by a mysterious criminal organization. Until I can find them again and reverse their drug, I go by the name Conan Edogawa and fight crime. Today's case is a robbery. The suspects have unsuspected superpowers and hidden pasts, but one truth will prevail!"

* * *

The Serpentine Sculpture Robbery Case

Ran knew she was lucky. She had convinced her father once again to part with some hard-earned money and take them to a hot springs for a weekend getaway. It was a good thing he liked hot springs too, although he'd probably take advantage of every opportunity to evade her watchful eye and go to the resort's bar. Still, this was a chance to relax and she was going to take it.

"Say," her dad, Kogoro Mori, commented, "I think I'm liking this trip already."

Ran turned the way that her father was facing, and saw a beautiful young woman checking in a few feet ahead of them. Ran's lips turned down. It was especially embarrassing when Dad went after the ones near her own age, and it looked like this was one of them.

Conan thought to himself, "Oh no, the old man's at it again. I'd been hoping this would be a relaxing trip."

Mori ran forward, and the woman turned quickly. Conan noted with narrowed eyes that she reached towards her waist, as though for a weapon, before realizing that Mori just wanted to speak with her. Mori entirely failed to note the gesture.

"I'm Mori Kogoro, the famous detective!" he introduced himself excitedly, last name first in traditional Japanese style. He was clearly hoping she would recognize his name and be impressed by his reputation.

The woman smiled politely at him, her brown eyes scrutinizing him closely as she introduced herself as, "Lady Une. Pleased to meet you in person, Detective Mori. I heard about your brilliance in your latest case."

"Well, that's just great!" Mori put his hand behind his head and laughed in delight. Ran crossed her arms while Conan rolled his eyes.

Mori looked back and gestured to Conan and told him, "Conan, take Lady Une's luggage to her room for her."

Conan gawked at Mori and thought, "Way to be gallant, old man. Send a little kid to do a grownup's job!" Lady Une only had one suitcase that he could see, but it was rather large.

"Dad, he's just a little kid!" Ran protested, also disgusted by her father's behavior. "I'll carry it," she determined, taking the suitcase's handle and lifting it easily.

This time Lady Une merely tensed her face slightly before relaxing. Perhaps she was worried about giving away her familiarity with armament, or her apparent lack of armament at the moment. She told them, "Oh, I'm so sorry to trouble you. I really appreciate your help." She bowed in gratitude, and when she straightened, her long brown hair flowed gracefully to the small of her back.

"No trouble," Ran and Mori agreed. Mori was about to walk with Lady Une to her room when the receptionist politely called "Mr. Mori? We have your reservation. Would you like to check in now?"

"Oh yeah," Mori muttered disappointedly. He returned to check in. Conan grimly took Ran's luggage in hand, as well as his own, and stepped forward to join Mori. A young man joined the queue behind them. His platinum blond hair was so fine and light that it almost appeared white.

After Mori had checked in, he walked towards the door that Ran and Lady Une had left by, taking his own luggage with him, and leaving Conan to handle Ran's luggage. Ran joined them at that juncture, and Mori was clearly disappointed that Ran was alone.

"Honey," he asked his daughter, "thanks for your help. What room number did Lady Une have? I'd like to make sure that she isn't too tired from her trip."

Ran frowned and said, "Dad, we're here to relax as a family. Lady Une is fine, she was very grateful for our help."

They were distracted by a commotion from the check-in area. The young blond man had been arguing with the receptionist. He now raised his voice slightly, though he was not yet shouting. He banged his open palm on the desk, locuting with a lordly tone and a toffee palate, "Listen to me, girl! Owls! If any owls come, don't bother them!"

The receptionist was too trained in formal etiquette to retaliate in any way to this rude treatment, and so she merely put her evident confusion into words, "Sir, I'm sorry, but we don't allow pets at this establishment."

"Pet? I don't have a pet owl. When owls come, they don't stay long," he insisted. "Listen, just let any owls that come fly where they like. They'll find me well enough."

"Very well, Mr. Malfoy," the receptionist said, clearly having decided to give in to his ridiculous request to end the bizarre scene. "We'll do our best."

The young man, whose name was evidently Malfoy, gulped, as if to clear his head. Releasing some of his anger, told her, "Thank you," and abruptly headed for his room with his luggage, a large steamer trunk.

After he had passed, Mori commented, "Young people these days have no manners."

Ran decided not to mention any of the million things that came to mind and simply took her luggage from Conan, sweetly thanking him for his trouble.

"You're welcome, Ran _-neichan_ ," Conan told her with a grin, addressing her as an older sister as he usually did in this body.

They proceeded towards their room.

* * *

After soaking in the hot springs for an hour or so, Mori went on the prowl, for drinks or Lady Une or both. Ran and Conan went to the rec room to play ping pong, setting off down the hall in the opposite direction. They noticed a famous young man heading towards them.

The man walking towards them would've stood out even if he were not famous, because of his gigantic stature, shaved head, barrel chest, and powerful muscles that the yukata only barely concealed. What was more striking about him were the cybernetic implants grafted into the ebony skin of his face, the dully glowing red sensor replacing his left eye, and his entirely mechanical arms. Conan knew he was looking at Cyborg, a member of the world-famous Teen Titans of Jump City in the United States.

"Good evening," Ran and Conan said as they politely bowed to him. Cyborg hesitantly emulated them. His voice spoke English with an urban, American accent, but they were surprised to hear a neutral and artificial voice speaking a few seconds after his. Cyborg had said a nervous but friendly, "Hello" in English, and a few seconds later the artificial voice had rendered it into an emotionless, "Good evening," in Japanese.

"I'm Mori Ran, and this is Edogawa Conan," Ran introduced herself and Conan, putting their last names first as was customary. "I'm Cyborg," he introduced himself, and the emotionless voice soon after rendered this into Japanese.

"Yes, you and the other Teen Titans cracked the Brushogun case only a few months ago, didn't you? That was amazing detective work," Ran said sincerely. Cyborg grinned widely and said in English, "Aw, thanks," while the artificial voice said in Japanese, "Thank you kindly, young lady."

Conan remembered the Brushogun case. He had wanted to crack the case himself, but hadn't had the time; the cases he helped Mori solve weren't unimportant. Conan felt a mixture of jealousy and professional respect for the Titans. If Cyborg smiled much more at Ran, though, Conan figured he'd start feeling jealous for a different reason.

Cyborg told them, "I wanted to see Japan more informally after we cracked that case. I'm happy to catch up on some R & R after our work lately. This is a really nice resort." The artificial voice translated his words into Japanese.

Ran correctly inferred, "Are you using a translation computer? That must be very handy." Cyborg agreed, "Yeah, I compressed the one we had at Titan's Tower. It's worked out fairly well."

Conan asked him, "Mr. Cyborg, are you visiting with the other Titans?"

Cyborg smiled, but this time his eyes were troubled instead of transmitting his natural friendliness. "Well, they're actually elsewhere. Even good friends sometimes need time apart." Conan nodded, though he was actually running through his mind the most likely reasons that the Titans, who worked as a small, close-knit team, would separate even briefly.

They had all run out of things to say, and so they bade their farewells. Ran said to Conan, once they reached the recreation room, "Wow, it's amazing that we'd meet someone as famous as Cyborg here!" Conan agreed, "He is a good crime fighter. It's interesting that he would want a vacation so far from his home and friends." They didn't say any more about it, but lost themselves in a ping-pong game. Despite Ran's height advantage, Conan played a fair game of ping-pong. He was better at soccer, though, and wished he could hit the ping pong ball with his feet and head as well as the paddle.

A redheaded man entered the room. He watched the game with interest, and when Ran defeated Conan, he asked, "I hate to interrupt such a good competition, but I was wondering if one of you would please play against me?"

Ran and Conan had been intent on the game, and had barely noticed the man's nearly silent entrance. Now they looked at him more closely. He had green eyes, long red sideburns, and a long mane of red hair reaching to the ends of his shoulder blades. The man appeared to be slightly younger than Ran and Shinichi's true age, though the stranger carried himself with poise that gave him the gravity of an adult. Their new opponent possessed a steady, mature gaze as well as a confident and friendly half-smile.

"As your challenger," the stranger continued, "I should introduce myself first. My name is Minamino Suichi." He had also introduced himself with his last name first.

Ran introduced herself and Conan. Ran then suggested, "I'll play you, if you like." Minamino nodded wordlessly, and Conan ceded his end of the table to Miamino. Conan was curious to see more of this stranger, his intuition telling him that there was more to Minamino than met the eye.

Minamino grasped the paddle and held it at the ready. Ran served, and he quickly returned the ball to her. She volleyed it back, and Minamino batted it to a different spot on Ran's side of the table. Ran parried this offensive, and again Minamino hit it to another spot. This continued for a few more volleys until he ceased ensuring that the ball impacted at different locations. He started to increase his pace of responding to the volleys. Ran's reflexes allowed her to continue returning the ball. Sensing the challenge, she began to hit the ball back faster and faster, accelerating even faster than he had been. Minamino was watching all of this calmly while Ran grinned fiercely. They continued hitting the ball over and over again at very high speed until Minamino suddenly hit the ball to a precise spot on Ran's left. The ball struck the table and bounced past her as she tried but failed to hit it.

"You're good," she told him, nodding at him and bowing as she would at a rival in a karate match. Minamino bowed back and told her cheerfully, "You're very good at this yourself. Thank you for such an enjoyable game. Please tell me, do you practice this often?" She shook her head and replied, "No, actually my sport is karate. I play this when I can, though." Minamino nodded.

Conan checked his watch and realized aloud, "Hey, wasn't your dad going to meet us here at 8, Ran?" It was 8:15 PM.

She frowned. "I hope we don't have to go fetch him from somewhere. You're more dependable than him sometimes."

"Would your father happen to be the famous detective Mori Kogoro?" Minamino asked. Ran turned to him and said, "He is, as a matter of fact." Minamino nodded, "Yes, I heard about how he's been on quite a streak lately. Your father must be a very clever man."

Conan thought to himself, "Most of the time the old man jumps to the wrong conclusion, and I have to knock him out and imitate his voice to get these things solved. I don't know what he'd do without me."

"I'd like to meet him, if you don't mind my asking," Minamino continued.

"I'll introduce you then," Ran said, slightly nervous, "if he's presentable. He said he'd stop by the resort bar, we should check there first. Please come with us, Mr. Minamino." He nodded, and the three proceeded out of the rec room and down the hall.

They turned a corner in a hallway, spotting a middle schooler with red hair, who was closing and locking the door to his room. He shook his head and looked up at the three coming down the hall, but without surprise, as though he had detected them coming long ago. The young man appeared to have a new and heavy burden on his mind. He bowed slightly in greeting as he said, "Hello, Mr. Minamino and friends. My name is Niwa Daisuke." The last sentence was directed towards Ran and Conan, who bowed and introduced themselves in turn. Daisuke, like Minamino, Ran, and Conan, introduced himself with his last name first.

"So, you met Mr. Minamino already?" Ran asked Daisuke. He replied, "Yes, we met this morning just after I checked in. We were both admiring that painting on the wall." He gestured towards a print of a beautiful sunrise over a lake.

The door to Daisuke's room was located near the check-in area. The foursome in the hallway heard murmurs from the check-in area, and though Ran couldn't hear all of them, she was fairly sure that she heard the words, "Call the police, just to be certain."

"What's that about?" she wondered aloud. "Let's find out." The four went towards the check-in area, and found a hotel manager and the receptionist. The receptionist was dialing the phone while the manager pored over a letter.

As the four approached, the manager leapt up and asked, "Can I do anything for you?"

"Is that letter some sort of threat, Mr. Manager?" Conan asked with the innocence of a child.

The manager froze, and said awkwardly, "I wouldn't want to disturb our guests with this unpleasant business." Then he snapped his fingers as he recalled. "Actually, miss, you and your young friend are related to Mr. Mori, the detective, yes?"

"Yes, we are," Ran answered for herself and Conan. The manager continued awkwardly, "I hate to ask this of a guest, but I trust Mr. Mori's discretion."

Conan thought to himself, "You're putting your trust in the wrong place, then."

"Could you please ask your father to come look at the letter, and help the police when they arrive?" the manager asked. Ran nodded and agreed, "Yes, of course."

The manager looked awkwardly at Minamino and Daisuke, then decided to whisper further information to Ran. Unfortunately, he was an older gentleman and misjudged his volume. Conan, Daisuke, and Minamino, were able to hear him say, "Someone has threatened to steal the Serpentine Sculpture."

* * *

Glossary:

Brushogun case: See "Teen Titans: Trouble in Tokyo" for more information.

- _neichan_ : Japanese informal suffix for an older sister, or someone considered as such. For example, when Conan says "Ran- _neichan_ " he is referring to her as his older sister, even though they both know they have no blood relation. It's a form of respect, even though the suffix is informal.

Toffee palate: British expression for an upper class English accent

Yukata: A kimono associated with resorts and summertime


	2. Chapter 2

The Serpentine Sculpture Robbery Case: Part II

Minamino said, "I certainly hope no one's threatened to steal the Serpentine Sculpture," as though he and the others had not just heard the hotel manager's too-loud whisper to Ran only moments ago.

The manager looked at him, startled, but felt reluctantly compelled to answer. "Eh, I'm afraid that's the case."

Everyone made the appropriate noises of shock and dismay.

"We'd better find Dad," Ran decided. "Let's check the hotel bar first."

"Of course, miss," the manager nodded, and led the way for her and Conan. He seemed slightly dismayed that Daisuke and Minamino were following, but made no comment. Ran and Conan were unsure why they were following as well, but the expressions of their companions indicated that it was simply normal curiosity.

They reached the hotel bar, which was relatively empty at the moment. This mattered little to Ran's father, Mori. He had found a drinking buddy, a man younger than him, but clearly an adult. He was tall, handsome fellow, with short brown hair and brown eyes.

"Ran?" Mori asked. "What are you doing here? Is it 8 already?" His voice hadn't yet slurred- that was a good sign, although he had trouble checking his watch.

"Then you must be Mr. Mori's daughter, whom I've heard so much about," the drinking buddy said in a grand voice. He got up from the bar stool, bowed deeply, and as he did so, kissed Ran's hand. "I'm charmed already. My name is Sohma Shigure," he introduced himself, also placing his last name first.

"Uh, and my name is Mori Ran," Ran introduced herself back in the same fashion, slightly startled by his behavior. She wasn't sure whether he was sober or not, but he appeared fully in control of himself. That being the case, she felt rather flattered.

Conan gawked openly at Shigure's audacity.

"Mr. Sohma, the same Sohma Shigure who wrote 'A Pack Of Tame Dogs In Love'?" Minamino inquired.

"Yes, yes I am!" Shigure replied with delight. "I take it you've read some of my works?"

"He's a novelist," Mori interjected.

Minamino nodded and said, "I've read the book I mentioned. Your style is very unique."

"That's wonderful to hear!" Shigure almost sang in his delight. "Oh, I do hope you will read some more of them."

"I had noticed you left open the possibility of a sequel," Minamino recalled. "Have you created one yet?"

Shigure shrugged, and with a mischievous look in his eyes, "Actually, I came out here to dodge my editor: the deadline for the sequel is tomorrow."

"You what?" Conan sputtered.

"Don't worry," Shigure reassured them all. "The manuscript's done, and I hid it in various places around the house. It's sort of like a scavenger hunt. My editor loves these sort of games."

* * *

Meanwhile at Shigure's house

Shigure's editor, tears streaming down her face, reads the next item on the scavenger hunt, moaning, "Shigure, next time will you please, please just email it to me?" She wanders about the house trying to decipher the next clue, crying, "Why? Why? Why?"

* * *

Shigure waved his hand casually, "She'll be all right. We each have our own games we play with each other."

After an awkward moment, the hotel manager decided to explain to Kogoro the problem they faced. The manager produced the letter for Kogoro to examine.

"Did you get any other letters?" Kogoro asked, though he was having trouble focusing.

"No, sir, this is the first," the manager explained.

"Hm," Kogoro grunted.

The letter was spread out so everyone could see it, though the manager was still visibly antsy about allowing Minamino, Daisuke, and Shigure, to view it. The letter read, "I will steal the Serpentine Sculpture at 9:30 PM on the 21st," which was that evening, and was signed "Phantom Dark."

"Phantom Dark," Kogoro rolled the name around on his tongue. "Dunno that I've ever heard of him."

"He's a legendary thief from my country," Daisuke explained. "Weird. He doesn't usually venture too far from my hometown."

"From your country?" Kogoro looked at him, a vague suspicion awakening.

"Yeah. I know it sounds crazy, but he's supposed to have been alive for 400 years," Daisuke said. "Sometimes he disappears for decades at a time. He's been active in the past few months though. Still, he's never stolen anything this far out, at least as far as I've heard."

Kogoro made a dull affirmative noise, clearly showing that he had understood Daisuke, but had lost belief and therefore also lost interest in the tale.

"Maybe it's a copycat crime," Shigure speculated.

"I haven't gotten a chance to see the sculpture yet myself," Kogoro told the manager. "Please take us there so we can inspect it and the security." The manager nodded rapidly several times, clearly glad that the famous detective was finally taking some action. He was so excited by this prospect that he almost didn't notice that Shigure quickly settled his tab and joined them.

They proceeded to one of the hotel's central rooms. It was a large lounge, with many comfortable chairs. Some of the chairs were set around polished coffee tables. All the chairs were oriented towards the room's center. In the center of the room was the Serpentine Statue, a magnificent work of art. It was a representation of a giant snake climbing up a tree stump, all done in white marble, about a meter and a half tall by a meter wide. The snake was resting part of its neck on a low branch, extending its head and its tongue inquisitively towards their group. The eyes were excellently cut emeralds, which helped to give an illusion of life to the sculpture. Upon closer observation, it became clear that the entire sculpture had been meticulously textured; the stump was carved to resemble a wood grain, and the snake was covered in tiny carvings that perfectly resembled scales. This was clearly an artwork which had been given time, care, and attention by its artist, and the result was an almost perfect mimicry of life.

As marvelous as the sculpture was, the group found themselves distracted from it for a moment by another guest, sitting in a chair some ways away. The manager noticed this guest too, and seemed irritated, but unwilling to do anything.

This guest was not wearing a yukata, which was odd when one considered that every other guest at the hotel, even Cyborg, the American, had donned this traditional Japanese robe for their stay. Instead, this guest was clad in black leather pants, black leather boots, and a black leather jacket. The jacket had enormous rips that exposed his shoulders, though the rest of his jacket was perfect, and faintly reflected the light. He wore his jacket open to reveal a gray T-shirt and a huge scar shaped like an X just below his neck. The man's white hair was close-cropped, although in back he had pulled it into a short ponytail. He wore a small, circular gold earring in his left ear. The room was set up so all the furniture faced the sculpture, but he had turned his chair away from it, crossed his arms, and was staring at the ceiling.

The manager began to speak, and everyone except the leather-clad guest turned their attention to him. "This is the Serpentine Sculpture. As you can see, it is a masterpiece, the best work of a local artist known as the 'Stone Lifegiver' for his ability to create in stone artwork as good as life. The eyes are finely cut emeralds. This piece was comissioned by," he frowned, and stubbornly attempted to pronounce the name, "Sara-er, Salhazal, er, excuse me, Sarhazal Srytheleen, please, pardon me-"

"Salazar Slytherin," a man with an upper-class English accent said clearly from behind them. "That's the name you mean to say, right?" he asked loftily. The platinum-haired man who had earlier made a fuss at the check-in about owls now strode into the room behind them. He was fixated on the sculpture, and evidently appreciated it quite a bit. Conan noted that he had changed into a yukata, and his hands were somewhat pruney.

Kogoro turned to him and asked, "Who are you?"

The young man appeared slightly annoyed, both because he had to turn his attention away from the sculpture, and at being addressed in such a manner. "My name is Draco Malfoy," he drawled, introducing himself with his family name last, as per English custom. He put out his hand as he mentioned somewhat coldly, "I don't believe we've met."

Kogoro shook his hand and introduced himself, and the others all introduced themselves in turn. Draco nodded politely and shook hands, but returned to his examination of the sculpture as soon as he could.

The manager continued, "Yes, the young man is correct about the man who comissioned the statue. He didn't stay very long, though- in fact he left again before the statue was even completed, though he had already left instructions that it be given to a local feudal lord. It was eventually sold to this establishment."

He went on to describe the security, "As you can see, we've placed the statue centrally so our guests can enjoy it, and also to aid in security. This room is nearly in the center of the resort, and there are no windows in this room to facilitate outside entrance. There is a weight alarm on the statue's dais, as well as several lasers which act as motion detectors. The glass case around the sculpture is also alarmed. During the nighttime hours, we lock the two doors to this room, and the doors are also alarmed. Our security staff makes rounds of the whole resort."

Kogoro nodded, "Yeah, and it's a pretty big sculpture too, so it must be heavy. You've done a good job protecting it. It'd take luck and lots of money under the table before someone could steal it. But why did the thief give advance warning? The whole operation will be practically impossible now that we know to be worried about the sculpture even more."

Everyone present had to agree with this conclusion.

Inspector Megure entered the room with two other police officers to take charge of the case. The manager, Kogoro, and Ran went over to talk to him. Shigure went back to his room, while Draco Malfoy, Suichi Minamino, and Daisuke Niwa stayed to admire the sculpture. Conan walked to where the leather-clad guest was sitting.

"Hey, mister," Conan asked in a childlike manner, "have you not been in the hot springs yet?"

"I have," the man said in a deep voice, and was silent. He wasn't really looking at Conan.

"Don't those holes in your jacket make you cold?" Conan asked, pointing to the man's exposed shoulders.

"Not really," the man told him in a vaguely irritated rumble. "I like these clothes." He was silent again. Conan frowned. Evidently making conversation with this fellow would be a challenge.

"My name's Conan," he said with enthusiasm, deciding for the direct approach. "What's yours?"

"Tsume," he returned, and continued looking at nothing.

Conan felt frustrated, but it appeared there was no mystery here. The man was simply too confident to want to dress like everyone else, or speak much to anyone else. He walked over to Inspector Megure and the others.

"We'll leave two officers at each of the two doors," Inspector Megure was saying to the hotel manager. "I've asked some of my international counterparts for more info on this 'Phantom Dark', and the faxes should come in a few hours. In the meantime, I think business at the hotel can continue as usual. Probably the thief will be scared off by the extra security."

"If the whole thing isn't a sick joke," Kogoro agreed.

It seemed overelaborate for a joke to Conan, but he had to agree that the advanced warning had put the thief in a bad spot. Unless it was all part of some plan, and Conan couldn't figure out how alerting everyone could possibly further a plan. It was more likely arrogance. In any event, without further evidence, there was nothing more to do.

Kogoro, Ran, and Conan all retired to their room. As they did so, they overheard Shigure talking to the manager, saying, "So, the lord to whom the statue was given, he was a Sohma as well?"

"Yes," the manager replied, feeling much more comfortable talking about one of the resort's attractions with a guest than about any threats to the resort, "apparently Lord Sohma gave hospitality to Mr. Syrthereen-"

"Slytherin," Malfoy corrected him absently as he moved to get another view of the statue, slightly away from Daisuke and Minamino.

The manager went on "-who had comissioned the statue, so the gentleman gave it to Lord Sohma as a parting gift. The records indicate that they got along very well."

"What a fascinating coincidence, having my family name," Shigure murmured thoughtfully.

It was 8:45 PM.

* * *

At 9:29 PM, the lights in the Mori family's room went out.

"Great, and I thought this was a high-class establishment," Kogoro complained as he fumbled around in the dark. "Haven't these people got a backup system?" He moved towards the window, where the full moon had risen and provided some illumination.

"What time is it?" Conan asked urgently. Ran and Kogoro gasped. As one, the threesome rushed into the hall and ran towards the Serpentine Sculpture's display room. The hall and every room they passed was pitch black.

Their eyes were slowly becoming acclimated to the dark. As they ran down one of the two halls leading to the Serpentine Sculpture's display room, they could barely make out the crumpled forms of two of the officers. They lay at the far end of the hall. There was a sound of quick, light footsteps running towards them, and just behind that several pairs of heavy footsteps, but they could see nothing producing these sounds. A moment later, a huge dark shape flew down the hall towards them as well, calling, "You don't know what you're doing!" There was a sudden flare as several arcs of electricity enveloped the large dark shape, which cried out in pain and collapsed to the ground. In the brief light of the electricity, they were able to see a tall, athletic young man, with long dark hair, flying on huge black, feathered wings, before falling to the ground in pain. The arcs disappeared, and the hall returned to darkness.

The threesome stopped in shock, and a burst of electricity enveloped them as well, but for a briefer time. Conan thought he heard several sets of footsteps going past him, though his sight didn't indicate anyone doing so. He sat up slowly, in time to see the dark shape, which he presumed was the winged young man, flying away from them, and turning into another hall.

Conan tried to get to his feet, but sat down quickly again- the electric attack had left him feeling slightly nauseous. He heard Ran and Kogoro picking themselves up around him, and could see their forms stirring in the dark. From behind him, back towards where he thought the rapid footsteps had gone, he heard a woman scream.

Kogoro hauled himself to his feet and ran towards the scream while Conan helped Ran to stand up. The lights came on a few moments later. Conan and Ran turned to see Inspector Megure and another officer hunched over the fallen officers near the display room. The manager ran towards the sculpture room, and paused as he saw the inspector.

The inspector and the other officer exchanged a few hurried words while Conan ran after Kogoro. Conan came out to a large open-air bath, one of several at the hot springs. The area was bordered by the resort building's walls and a tall, sturdy, bamboo fence. The mist coiled slowly in the cold air. Kogoro was standing near one of the baths, cursing softly, shaking his fist at the sky, before looking over the ground for clues.

"The thieves got away?" Conan asked, looking at the area, which was empty except for them.

"Yeah, but I'd say without the statue," Kogoro said angrily. "It sounded like there was a whole gang of them, but they couldn't scale the fence so fast with a statue that huge. And I saw the winged guy flying away empty-handed, so he didn't take it. What sort of freak was he? Must be some kind of costume."

Conan asked, "Did you hear that lady scream?"

"I did, but it was before I got here. Maybe she was startled when she saw the robbers." Kogoro paced angrily, trying to find clues on the ground in the dark. Conan did the same, but more methodically. He noticed that there were large amounts of water around the bath, and he found some small leaves adhering to the small puddles. He picked one up and put it in his pocket, then went back to rejoin Ran.

He found that a crowd had begun to gather around the display room. Ran was standing outside it, bathing the forehead of one fallen officer while another policeman did the same for his fallen comrade. "Are they going to be OK?" Conan asked Ran anxiously.

"Yeah," Ran agreed, "they were just stunned. Like we were, but harder. They should be fine in a few minutes."

Conan saw that the double door had a huge burn mark near the center where the lock had been, and was hanging open. Looking inside, he could see that the Serpentine Sculpture was gone. Inspector Megure and the manager were looking at it. The manager was dumbfounded and horrified, and the inspector was puzzled and livid.

"9:30 PM exactly, just as the letter warned," Minamino, one of the onlookers, murmured.

Daisuke ran up to join the crowd, exclaiming, "Oh, my! Will they be all right?" Ran assured him that the policemen were going to be all right.

Conan frowned. The Serpentine Sculpture had been stolen right from under their noses, he'd just seen a man flying with huge dark wings, and someone had attacked several people with electricity in a manner that shouldn't be possible.

He adjusted his glasses. No matter how bizarre the case, he was sure that one truth would prevail.

* * *

Glossary:

Yukata: A kimono associated with resorts and summertime


	3. Chapter 3

The Serpentine Sculpture Robbery Case: Part III

The policemen began to come to, and looked around at the crowd that had gathered around the scene of the crime.

Lady Une joined the crowd, yawning profusely. She looked tired.

Conan heard someone running down the corridor. Within moments, Draco Malfoy appeared in a deep rage. He asked loudly, "Is it true?" and imperiously strode toward the front of the crowd.

The recovering police officers cringed. Ran frowned at Malfoy and asked, "Please, keep your voice down. They've been hurt."

Malfoy gazed into the lounge and muttered darkly, "It is true." He turned to Ran. "Who's in charge here?" he demanded.

"Inspector Megure's in charge of the investigation," Conan told him. Malfoy nodded curtly and swept inside the room. Conan followed him.

Cyborg entered the lounge from the double doors on the opposite side. He exclaimed in English, "Oh, no!" A few moments later, his translation computer rendered this into Japanese.

Kogoro Mori, who was standing next to Inspector Megure, looked at him and said irritably, "You know, we could've used your help tonight. Some crimefighter you are."

Inspector Megure huffed, "Mori, you've been telling me some weird tale about invisible thieves and winged thieves and I don't know what, but they ran right past you and you didn't do a thing. Mr. Cyborg, please excuse Mori."

Cyborg waved a mechanical hand. He used his translation computer to respond, "No, it's OK. Man, I was sure that letter was a diversion, so I was patrolling the other end of the resort." Cyborg swung his head quickly, taking in the scene. "This looks like the sort of crime we see back in Jump City."

Conan looked around. On the one hand, it seemed like a perfectly normal crime scene; there were officers taking pictures and gathering evidence, and the old man and Inspector Megure were thinking up a storm. On the other hand, Cyborg had a point; the invisible thieves and their electrical attacks were the sort of powers posessed by villains that Cyborg and his friends fought.

After half an hour (despite Malfoy's interfering attempts to be haughtily helpful,) some odd results had come to light. The hotel manager reported that at the time of the theft, he was in the maintenance rooms trying to find the source of the blackout. It turned out to be sophisticated electrical sabotage: only as much damage as was necessary to black out part of the resort.

The officers at the far double doors to the room reported that they had a brief glimpse of a tall, dark-haired young man with what appeared to be black wings. He held a feather in front of their faces, chanted, and then they simply fell asleep. Examination of the doors proved their locks were swiftly picked.

The other two officers, those stationed by the double doors near the hallway Kogoro, Ran, and Conan had used that evening, had a different tale. They reported that they had seen and heard nothing until they were assaulted by an electrical zap. Their door had been severely burned by electricity and then forced open.

"Two completely different M.O.'s," Inspector Megure commented, confused.

One of the officers brought in a fax. Inspector Megure looked at it quickly and shook his head. "Mori, look at this picture."

Kogoro looked at it, then pointed forcefully and said, "Yeah, that's the guy I saw!"

Ran came forward, looked quickly at the picture, and immediately said, "That's definitely him!"

"Who?" Conan asked, running towards them, "the guy with the wings?" He gesticulated towards the paper, held out of his reach, and said excitedly, "Let me see!"

"This is a criminal dossier! It's not for little kids!" Kogoro growled.

Conan frowned. Ran kindly angled the paper so he could see, and Conan said, "Yeah, that's definitely him. Wow, it looks like he's really flying on those wings in that picture! Just like tonight."

"See, this proves I was right! He is flying on those contraptions! Maybe he's got a rocket hidden in that costume!" Kogoro nodded.

Conan thought to himself, "We would've heard a rocket, old man."

"Flying?" Malfoy asked. He ceased brooding on the sculpture's empty dais and strode over.

"You don't believe me?" Kogoro was insulted.

"Lots of normal people fly," Malfoy told him through his thick toffee palate. "I've done it loads of times."

"We're not talking about airplanes," Inspector Megure told him. "Before tonight I wouldn't have believed it, but apparently the police department that faxed it to me has loads of documentation showing this Phantom Dark," he gestured to the picture, "can fly on those wings."

"Wait! I've got it!" Kogoro said, snapping his fingers as a triumphant expression stole across his face. He looked at the crowd of onlookers, which had dwindled only slightly. "The thief is none other than mild-mannered Niwa Daisuke!" Kogoro exclaimed, pointing at Daisuke.

"Huh?" Daisuke asked, startled.

"This Phantom Dark comes from your hometown," Kogoro elucidated, "you told us that yourself earlier. But he's never been known to steal from outside his country, or even your hometown. Today, when you arrive, the hotel gets a letter warning them of the impending theft, which is the precise M.O. that Dark uses. This evening, Phantom Dark barreled out of this room and flew away from the hotel. You are Phantom Dark. You flew to a safe distance, then took off your fake wings, mask, eye-changing contents, and wig, then ran back to the hotel, where you pretended to be a concerned spectator!"

"That's crazy! You can't be serious!" Daisuke protested, holding out his open palms.

"Mori, you've gotta be kidding me," Inspector Megure said in disbelief. "Where would he get ahold of wings that can fly? Besides, this dossier says that Phantom Dark is about a foot taller than Niwa! How could he fake that?"

"Uh," Kogoro fumbled, "stilts in his boots!"

"But Phantom Dark's boots are narrow," Conan pointed out, gesturing to the picture. "In order not to reveal his true feet and give away the trick, he would've had to hide his feet in the narrow parts of the boots. Niwa's feet are too big for that. Besides, Niwa's arms are shorter than Phantom Dark's too. If he were wearing stilts to fake being someone taller, we would've noticed that his arms were disproportionate to his size."

Kogoro glared at Conan, while Daisuke, relieved, put a hand behind his head and agreed, "Just like he said." Inspector Megure nodded too.

Conan noted that Malfoy was thoughtfully stroking his chin. Had this discussion triggered some idea about disguises in Malfoy's head?

"Very acute reasoning, Conan," Suichi Minamino commented. Cyborg agreed, "Yeah, he's pretty good."

"Oh, I just like to imitate Mori!" Conan laughed nervously. Kogoro was only somewhat appeased.

Inspector Megure decided, "All right. Let's get the second team working on the hotel perimeter where Kogoro saw Phantom Dark fly away from. The first team will join us when they're finished collecting evidence here."

Conan noticed the manager standing nearby, and walked over to him. Now would be a good time to use his childlike guise to his advantage. He needed to know if the statue was insured, and hopefully the manager would relax his guard around a child and show his true character and feelings. "Gee, Mr. Manager," Conan said sympathetically, "that's too bad that the Serpentine Sculpture was valuable. I bet it was worth a lot."

"Indeed," the manager agreed disconsolately, "we had insured it for a great sum. But no amount of money could ever replace the guests' attraction to that sculpture. It was the proof that we are a high-class establishment. This is a bitter blow to our pride, and disparages the work we do to take care of our guests and this resort."

Conan nodded. The manager sounded sincere, and he was making sense. Still, if he were embezzling from the resort, a large insurance payment would be a juicy target. He was also one of the few people who would know how to sabotage the resort lighting system. There wasn't anyone who could verify the manager's alibi, for he explained that he had been alone during the entire time of the theft.

He left those thoughts behind and followed Kogoro and the others outside. The police cleared away most of the spectators, but Suichi Minamino followed them out to the hot springs where Kogoro and Conan had lost track of the thieves. Minamino lingered there while the manager unlocked a gate so Inspector Megure and his team could look for clues outside.

Before proceeding out the gate himself, Conan looked suspiciously at Minamino. Conan was convinced that the splashed water and leaves in the hot springs they were leaving meant something. He had assumed there was no further evidence to be found. But if that was the case, why was Minamino standing there? Minamino looked at him with a mysterious smile, as though he guessed what he were thinking. Unnerved, Conan hurried out the gate. He didn't want to appear too curious, or the thief, whoever he or she was, might try to cover up any remaining evidence.

The area outside was dark, but the full moon cast a bright light. Earlier in the day, Conan had seen that the area was heavily wooded, and also contained many rocky outcroppings. This part of the resort had a stretch of open grass waving and glinting gently in the moonlight. Rocks poked out of the field like baby teeth erupting from the gums.

"Mori-kun! What do you make of this?" Inspector Megure called Kogoro over to a patch of mud near the fence, where the ground became rockier and the grass sparser. Kogoro looked down, shining the flashlight beam, and noted, "A huge dog print!" The inspector nodded and speculated, "That's big enough to practially be a wolf." Ran peered over her father's shoulder a moment and blinked, saying, "Is that even real? Look how deep it is! That's almost a pony."

A short distance away, Conan played his flashlight around the ground. It would be easy to miss a vital clue in the dark, but he had little recourse. Suddenly he saw something. There was something dark blowing over a light-colored rock in the breeze, through the beam of his flashlight. He caught it on instinct. Steadying his flashlight beam on it, he saw that it was a dark feather.

"But what kind of bird is it?" Shinichi thought to himself. "Is it an owl? Or- is this even any kind of real bird at all?" A thought flashed across his mind. "Could this be a feather from Phantom Dark's wing? But how would I prove it? And does finding this feather here mean that his wings are real, or that they're fake, with feathers hastily pasted on? At least this confirms Kogoro's account that Dark went this way- and if Dark drops these all the time, we may have a way to track him."

Inspector Megure stood up. "I think that's all we'll find out here. There's no trace of the sculpture and no evidence that it left the resort. Under the circumstances, we'll have to search every room in the resort," he announced.

Though most of the guests were cooperative, the room-by-room search plodded along, as there were only so many officers. Kogoro had decided to aid them, and he tolerated Ran and Conan's presence, "As long as you stay out of my way," he told Conan crabbily.

The three had just finished their search of one room and were about to go on to the next. Conan noticed that there seemed to be a water trail on the carpet leading to the next door. They saw a woman step out of the room they planned to search next, the door the water trail led to. The woman suddenly shrank back behind the door frame and clutched it with a delicate hand, only leaving half of her body in view. She was comely and pale, clad in a yukata, but the eyes were most drawn to her face, as she was wearing a thick veil, color-coordinated with the yukata. Lovely orange hair fell down her back to just below her shoulders.

"Sorry to disturb you, miss," Kogoro said, hurrying forward, not wanting to miss a chance to impress a beautiful woman, "but if you'd allow us to search your room, we'd greatly appreciate it."

His relatively polite and genial demeanor only seemed to make the woman more uncomfortable. Now that Kogoro was standing at the door, she went inside and seemed to cringe back. Kogoro stopped, not sure what was provoking this reaction. He bowed and introduced himself melodramatically, "Please, miss, have no fear. I am the great detective Mori Kogoro!" He waited for her reaction, and it was to shrink further back, as though she'd been hit in the stomach.

Nevertheless, after a moment, she answered, "My name is Amber Autumn."

Conan noted with interest that she had no accent, yet she had probably placed her family name last during that introduction. Cyborg had a translation computer, and when Malfoy spoke Japanese, it was accented. He wondered how Autumn had learned Japanese.

A few more moments passed, and when Ms. Autumn saw that Kogoro was not going away, she reluctantly allowed, "Very well. What has happened? There's been a great deal of disturbance tonight."

"A famous sculpture's been stolen. We're just searching the rooms as a precaution; shouldn't take too long," Kogoro told her as he entered. Ms. Autumn melted into a corner opposite him.

Ran slowly came forward, feeling that a gentler touch might reassure the woman. "Good evening, ma'am. I'm Mori Ran," she bowed and introduced herself.

Kogoro methodically searched the room while Ran and Ms. Autumn talked. Conan kept one eye on his personal observations of the room, and the other eye on the ladies' conversation. He noticed that there was a trail of water in the room to the sink. There was an electric hairdryer laying nearby and still plugged in to an outlet, and a great multiplicity of used towels hung up to dry, along with a second yukata.

Ran inquired, "May I ask what you do for a living, Ms. Autumn?"

"I," Ms. Autumn paused and continued sadly, "was a model."

"I thought that might be the case," Ran said excitedly, "you're very beautiful."

"No, no, I'm hideous!" Ms. Autumn wailed, putting a hand to her cheek, as though afraid that her thick veil might not adequately block the view of her face.

Ran paused. Was Ms. Autumn fishing for compliments? She gave her the benefit of the doubt and went on, "No, really, I'm serious. I hope you don't think I'm nosy, but my dream is to be a model. What is it like?"

"It was the only life I ever loved," Ms. Autumn recalled wistfully. Her next statements were filled with rising anger and sorrow, "Then I had my accident! The one that disfigured me, and ruined me!" She clenched her veil at her cheek until her knuckles turned white.

Kogoro turned around, and said tentatively, "Thank you for your time, Ms. Autumn. We're all done here."

"Please excuse me," Ms. Autumn said more calmly. "Have a good evening."

They filed out after wishing her the same.

Hers was the last room in that hall. As they returned to the scene of the crime, Kogoro wondered aloud, "What was her problem? Looked fine to me."

"There was something unusual there," Ran commented. "Maybe the accident affected someone she loved. Or maybe she regrets giving up modeling."

"Why do you suppose she was wearing a veil?" Conan asked Ran.

"She seems very sensitive about her face," Ran considered, "maybe she doesn't want people staring at it. She acted like that was where she was injured."

"If she doesn't want people staring at her face," Kogoro mumbled, "wearing an opaque veil is hardly a wise course of action."

They returned to the lounge, where they found Inspector Megure confronting Tsume, the rebellious leather-clad fellow.

"So, where have you been this evening?" the inspector asked severely.

"Outside," Tsume offered, his posture entirely relaxed and casual, while the inspector was growing angrier by the moment.

"Nothing else you'd like to tell us?" the inspector tried again. Tsume was silent, the vague upturn in his lips indicating that he considered the grilling a joke. It was incongruous seeing Inspector Megure trying to intimidate a man head and shoulders taller than himself, but the inspector had authority in his bearing and his boldness prevented him from looking foolish.

"There are witnesses placing you near the exit used by the thief at the time of the crime," Inspector Megure said dangerously. "You were seen outside the fence near the hot springs."

Tsume snorted in amusement. "Your men found nothing in my room, and none of the witnesses who chased the theif claimed to see me. I never even liked the sculpture anyway."

"Don't get cocky," the inspector snapped. Conan was surprised. Inspector Megure was passionate, but he almost never lost his temper on the job. Inspector Megure finally revealed the source of his ire, "I got a full dossier on you, Tsume. You may think you've escaped justice since Freeze City was destroyed, and we have no jurisdiction to prosecute you for your robberies and murders there. But you won't escape justice forever."

"I never thought I would," Tsume said calmly, turning his back on the inspector and leaving the room.

Inspector Megure balled his fists but said nothing.

Conan's mind was buzzing. So Tsume had been a thief in another country, and this evening was in a position to receive the statue from the thief. But how had it been handed off? Kogoro had been only a few steps behind the person who stole the statue from the lounge. There couldn't have been time to heave the statue over the fence to Tsume, and the gate in the fence was locked. Even if Tsume had somehow received the statue, where could he have hidden it? Besides, earlier Tsume had evidenced a total lack of interest in the sculpture. Why help someone to steal it?

A thought came to him, and Conan pursued Tsume down the hallway. Tagging along behind him, he asked in his best childlike manner, "Mr. Tsume, were you jogging? I like jogging too!"

"What?" Tsume asked without turning around or slackening his quick pace.

"Mr. Mori and Ran _-neichan_ like to jog too," Conan went on. "I go with them. It's really fun when you're in a group. I bet you were meeting someone out there to run with."

"I'm not like you people. So I run alone now," Tsume told him shortly.

"No one came out of their room to join you when they saw you were having such fun?" Conan asked in surprise.

"No," Tsume said shortly, and increased his pace even more.

Conan fell back and slowly returned to the lounge. Tsume would've been in a position to notice anyone leaving their rooms and going outside, or anyone from the bath reentering their rooms from the outside. Even if the culprits really were invisible, he probably would've noticed a door or window opening without anyone apparently doing it. So that suggested that they had snuck back through the hallways- it would've taken longer, but it was the only explanation. Unless Tsume was lying.

The other officers entered the lounge. The sweep of the guests' rooms had turned up empty.

Shigure Sohma looked into the lounge from the hallway. "My, my. Perhaps I should try writing a detective story next."

Noticing him, Kogoro walked over. "Ah, Mr. Sohma. So sorry to have to ask this, but can you help us? Did you see or notice anything unusual at the time of the theft?"

"No, unfortunately," Shigure told him. "I was on the phone with my editor most of the evening, right until the blackout. I was so busy that I didn't really notice much else, except that Mr. Minamino talked to me through my door before the robbery." Kogoro thanked him and returned to Inspector Megure's side. Shigure continued down the hall, away from the lounge.

Walking into the hall, Conan tried to observe things about the crime scene he hadn't observed before. He looked at the doors from the hall but saw nothing new. He saw Lady Une shaking her head and yawning a little ways down the hall.

"It's been a rough night, hasn't it, ma'am?" Conan said sympathetically.

"Yes, and I doubt I'll be able to get to sleep again. It's been disturbed so many times this evening," Lady Une sighed. "I thought that Minamino was an ordinary, normal kid. But then I saw something earlier. There were these odd noises coming from the bath near here. It was quiet, but I sleep lightly and my room is nearby, so I went to see what was happening. I saw Minamino scrabbling around in the dirt near the decorative foliage. Then he was pacing around, as though he were measuring the area. For some reason it reminded me of someone planting a minefield. I told the manager, and went back to sleep after that. Until the robbery woke me." She yawned and walked away.

Scratching his head, Conan thought that over. A minefield? But the more he thought, the more it made sense. That particular bath was one of the closest exits to the lounge. Minamino might've been setting up a trap. It was unclear whether Minamino was the thief and set it to catch his pursuers, or whether Minamino was a vigilante and the trap was to catch the thief announced in the letter. Minamino had been scrabbling around in foliage. For some reason it had reminded Lady Une of a minefield. Why did foliage seem to stir some memory in his own mind? Ah, he had it now.

Conan recalled the leaves that he had collected from the water splashed out of the hot springs where the thieves had run to. He walked into the lounge, pulled the leaves out of his pocket, and held them up to the ceiling, using the overhead lights to get a view of the leaves' internal structure.

"What do you have there?" Minamino asked. Conan jumped; he hadn't heard Minamino come to his side.

"This? Oh, they're some neat leaves I found," Conan explained. He scrutinized the face of his companion. Minamino appeared to know the leaves very well.

Conan inquired, "Can you tell me what sort of plant this is, mister?"

"It's a local variety of vine," Minamino said knowledgeably. "Ordinarily a harmless weed. Under the right conditions, however, it can grow to be a hazardous plant, tangling anything that opposes it."

"I always thought that plants stayed still all the time," Conan said in surprise.

"They're simply slow in their movements, turning to face the sun over weeks and such," Minamino explained. "Simply because their usual motion is slow, however, does not mean that they cannot move quickly."

Conan stared at him. What did that mean? How quickly was quickly, anyway?

Daisuke entered the room, and said in a friendly manner, "Hey, Minamino, I've been looking all over for you!"

"Indeed? I've been about the resort, I suppose," Minamino said easily.

Daisuke nodded in a genial manner, but his eyes flashed impatience for a moment. He continued, "Yeah, I heard you were here in the lounge until they locked it early because of the warning letter."

Minamino nodded.

"You didn't wait alone, did you, buddy?" Daisuke asked. The question seemed friendly, but Daisuke's eyes were oddly cold. Conan had noticed a sort of openness and genuineness in Daisuke's manner before. But now he was holding himself in reserve, and Conan heard an undertone of arrogance in the questions. He wondered what had caused the change.

Minamino seemed to have sensed the change too. He faced Daisuke squarely, with his hands in his pockets. His shoulders appeared relaxed, but that only made them seem more tense somehow. Nevertheless, Minamino's voice was light as he replied, "No, I didn't, as a matter of fact. Ms. Autumn was with me."

"I see," Daisuke replied, and laughed shortly. He nodded and said, "Well, Minamino, do take care, won't you? Until later, then."

He departed as abruptly as he had arrived. Minamino stared after him a moment, then looked at the dais where the Serpentine Statue had been.

Conan looked at the two double doors and noted the duplication of effort; thieves had broken into both doors using very different methods. It almost suggested that there were at least two sets of thieves, and their intentions had collided.

That would explain a lot; why Phantom Dark had been chasing seemingly invisible people out of the lounge. And the splashes of water in the hot springs could be evidence of a struggle. It all suggested that one of the sets of thieves had found it necessary to hide the sculpture before the other thieves could steal it from them. Conan put a hand to his chin. If only he could figure out where the thieves had temporarily hidden the statue, they might be able to recover some crucial evidence.

"Hey, Dad," Ran asked Kogoro, "do you have our locker key? I just remembered I left my purse in there before we took our bath."

Conan gasped. Unless he had missed his guess, he now knew the location of the Serpentine Sculpture!

Now he just had to convince everyone to recover it before the thieves moved it out of the resort.

* * *

Glossary:

- _neichan_ : Japanese informal suffix for an older sister, or someone considered as such. For example, when Conan says "Ran- _neichan_ " he is referring to her as his older sister, even though they both know they have no blood relation. It's a form of respect, even though the suffix is informal.

M.O.: Modus Operandi, the way in which a person works. In law enforcement, the method which a criminal uses can often identify a criminal across several cases.

Toffee palate: British expression for an upper class English accent

Yukata: A kimono associated with resorts and summertime


	4. Chapter 4

The Serpentine Sculpture Robbery Case: Part IV

Conan frowned. He was now fairly sure of the temporary hiding place the thieves had stored the stolen Serpentine Sculpture in. Conan now needed to convince someone to recover it before it was too late.

He walked over to the manager and set his face with the naivete of a young child. "Mr. Manager," he said naively, "I was wondering. If the statue was so valuable, why didn't you put it in one of the lockers?"

The manager favored him with a tolerant smile. "My dear child, if we did that, then no one would be able to see it. We simply have very large lockers for the convenience of our guests. It's one of our unique accommodations. The lockers we offer outside our baths aren't so much lockers as walk-in closets, unique among resorts."

"Yeah, but if you kept the statue in one of them," Conan proceeded with the illogical logic of a child, "people would be able to see them whenever they took a bath."

Kogoro grumbled from nearby, "Conan, stay out of adult's business."

Conan frowned. If this wasn't going to work, he wasn't sure what to do. There had to be another way-

Kogoro gasped. He turned to Inspector Megure and exclaimed, "Wait! I've got it! The location of the Serpentine Sculpture! We'd better go before the thief moves it out!"

"Where?" Inspector Megure asked.

"The lockers near the baths! Specifically, one of the lockers located near the particular hot springs where the thieves exited!" Kogoro exclaimed.

Conan sighed in relief. The old man had finally gotten it.

Inspector Megure, several officers, Ran, Kogoro, Conan, and Minamino ran out to the lockers. On their way they met Cyborg, who followed them. They all arrived at the hot springs where the thieves had exited the resort, and they turned to the side, looking at the roofed room where the lockers were, dark and empty at the moment. Kogoro and the officers stepped smartly forward, turning on flashlights and preparing to search the lockers.

Cyborg caught up to them. As he turned the corner, he gasped and shouted, "Look out!" Before his translation computer could render this, he had leapt onto Kogoro and the officers, forcing them down. Arcs of electricity flared from somewhere inside the locker room and traveled along Cyborg's body, singing his yukata. He yelled in pain as Ran, Conan, and Inspector Megure gasped.

Regaining his feet quickly, Cyborg's hand shifted inside his arm, leaving a glowing blue circle at the end of his arm. Out of it he fired a beam at the empty locker room.

His beam entered an apparently empty room, but it made contact with something which turned visible only after it was struck. It appeared to be a figure in a dark purple cloak. The cloaked figure fell to the ground, stunned by the force of Cyborg's sonic cannon blast.

Two more arcs of electricity flared at him, but he rolled and swept the room with his own beam, stunning and revealing two more cloaked figures. The parts of Cyborg's beam which did not hit the cloaked figures impacted the far wall, denting it.

Kogoro and the others got to their feet and helped Cyborg secure the cloaked figures.

"How did you know these goons were in here?" Inspector Megure asked.

Cyborg gestured to his glowing sensor which replaced his left eye and said, "My red-eye heat vision googled them invisible though they."

"Huh?" Inspector Megure asked.

Cyborg looked at him oddly and said, "Heat the weirdos still though no-see-ems in lockers. Uh-oh." He held up a cybernetic arm and began punching at controls, looking with concern at everyone's bemused expressions. Cyborg's face fell as he read the data in the screen on his arm. "Aw, male human being! Yak machine buster in melee. Necessitating Mr. Fix-It quicktime. Better fix it previous to all persons give me the appearance weird." He stepped back several paces and began tapping in more commands on his arm.

"Let's find out who these men are," Kogoro suggested, pulling back the deep hood on one of the purple-cloaked villains. He winced, and Ran gasped and turned away. The villain's face was scarred and horribly marred and warped.

The villain's twisted lips opened, and he said in a horrid voice, "Our leader will free us. You cannot-"

"Save it for the station," Inspector Megure said gruffly and quickly turned away. "Let's see what these men were guarding."

The manager stepped forward and used a master key to open the nearby lockers. On the third locker attempted they found the Serpentine Sculpture, pristine and unharmed. "Just as I deduced," Kogoro chuckled. "They didn't have time to get the sculpture out of the compound with me on the case, so they quickly stuffed it in a locker."

Inspector Megure ordered his men to collect fingerprints and move the prisoners to a central location in the resort.

"Doesn't look like the lock was forced," Kogoro noted. "Who rented this locker?"

"No one, sir," the manager said immediately. "The key went missing this afternoon. I thought it had been misplaced, but under the circumstances..." He trailed off significantly.

"The prints may not generate a match, or not in time," Inspector Megure considered. "We need to do interviews with everyone we haven't yet talked to."

* * *

Some hours later, many of the people had been interviewed. Little had been learned. There had been some excitement when no one had been able to find Draco Malfoy, but he had reappeared and been in great form pestering people and broadly hinting that he suspected everyone at the resort. He didn't, however, seem to be targeting Minamino as much as the others.

Conan went to a men's room near one of the hot springs' shower areas. It was a public restroom that anyone could access. In the sink, he unexpectedly found a bit of sludge near the drain. Suspecting it was a clue, he called Inspector Megure and Kogoro.

"Ew!" Kogoro grimaced in disgust. It was a foul-smelling thing in the drain of the sink. It looked like there was unidentifiable gunk in it, and several kinds of hair- perhaps even a human one. He looked over at the cup beside the sink and scooped the gunk into it with his hands, grimacing slightly. Inspector Megure was about to stop him, but it was too late, so he instead grumbled, "Now that you've contaminated all the DNA evidence on it, and touched the nasty stuff, do you mind giving the evidence to the police?"

"Please, take it," Kogoro grumbled, and turned on Conan. "I don't know why we're humoring you with this stuff. I can't see how it has any relevance to the case."

"But didn't you think it was odd?" Conan asked. "It looked like one of the hairs in there was red. Just like Niwa Daisuke's!" He had put Daisuke's last name first.

"What!" Inspector Megure barked.

"Yeah! And Niwa was acting real weird earlier, like he wasn't himself," Conan continued.

"I dunno. Maybe this could form some sort of disguise so someone could imitate Daisuke, but I can't see how, or why," Megure looked at the goop skeptically. He and Kogoro left the room.

* * *

"Mr. Cyborg," Inspector Megure said respectfully a half-hour later, "this is awkward, especially as you're an honored guest in our country, and you're the last person we need to interview, but I have to be thorough. Is there anything you can tell us that might help?"

Cyborg nodded and added, "Don't worry, I finally got the yakker compy up to engraving. Uh-oh." He flipped open some panels in his body, fiddling with some wiring, then sighed in relief and closed himself up, repeating, "I mean, I finally got my translation computer up to scratch."

"First thing I oughta tell ya," Cyborg said, activating a display on his cybernetic arm and holding it so the inspector could see, "is that statue is giving off some kinda weird readings. Not harmful to humans or machines, but it could potentially be used as a power source. So the Serpentine Sculpture has value besides being artistic."

"Second," he gestured to his red mechanical eye as he went on, "I can see the purple-robed men because my machine eye can pick up infrared. Those guys may be invisible, but they can't mask the heat from their own bodies."

Cyborg then explained seriously, "I was on the level earlier. I really did want to return to Japan someday for more R & R, see the things I didn't see before and all that. This trip, though," he paused, "had a second purpose. After seeing what we've seen though," he paused again, then came to a decision.

"All right, I'll give it to you straight," Cyborg said with a frown. "Raven- y'all know about Raven? She's on our team, the Teen Titans. You know how she's into that magic stuff? Well, she said she sensed some sorta evil force enter from another dimension. Crazy, I know, but crazier stuff has happened in Jump City. But thing is, she couldn't tell exactly where it ended up. The other Titans are in the spots she figured were most likely for the evil being to appear at. Looks like I just happened to be sent to the right location at the right time."

Inspector Megure said heavily, "Before tonight that would've sounded far-fetched. But guys in purple robes who turn invisible and shoot electricity are far-fetched too."

Cyborg agreed, "Your thief is probably the interdimensional evil I'm tracking, and I'm guessing the men in purple we caught are evil from another dimension too. Question is, did we get all the evil ones?"

After thanking him, Inspector Megure said despondently, "Well, we've got everyone's statements. But only Mr. Cyborg told us anything useful. I just don't see how any of them could help-" He broke off as he saw Kogoro stagger into a seated position. This usually happened whenever Kogoro had solved the case.

Conan made sure that Kogoro was sleeping peacefully and lowered the sight on his Anaesthetic Watch Gun. From his hiding place behind Kogoro, he pulled out his bow tie and spoke into it, and it changed his voice into that of Kogoro's.

"No, Inspector, I think all the pieces of the puzzle can be fit together now. Only appropriate, as all of the people involved in the drama are in this room."

There were a lot of people in the lounge where the Serpentine Sculpture now stood again. There were the officers working under Inspector Megure, as well as the Inspector himself. Ran stood beside Kogoro, staring proudly at him and thinking (incorrectly) that he would be responsible for the brilliant deductions to follow. Cyborg stood a few paces away. Draco Malfoy turned from questioning one of the officers about his duties and looked skeptically at Kogoro. Suichi Minamino watched Draco with narrowed eyes. Daisuke Niwa sat next to Suichi, and turned a surprised gaze on Kogoro.

Lady Une was sitting in the back, looking very tired. Shigure Sohma sat near her, and on his other side was Amber Autumn. Moments ago Shigure had been lost in thought, but now he was looking attentively at Kogoro. Tsume once again sat in a chair away from everyone, though this time he faced the people, and had hung his arms behind his chair casually. The three purple-cloaked thieves were bound in a corner, under attentive police guard. The manager turned from rapturous admiration of the restored statue to regard Kogoro. Everyone else had given their statements and been excused earlier.

"Wait, I know how you work," Inspector Megure theorized, "you're saying the thief is in this room." Conan confirmed with Kogoro's voice, "That's exactly what I'm saying, Inspector."

"Pardon me, but didn't we already know that?" Shigure asked, gesturing towards the bound purple-cloaked villains.

"I mean their leader, whom we haven't yet caught," Conan said through his bow tie. "But there's some information I need first. Some information from Draco Malfoy."

"You wouldn't dare accuse me of being the thief," Draco said angrily in his strong toffee palate accent.

"Why not? You became very interested in the sculpture after you learned it was made by Sarazar Srythelin."

"Salazar Slytherin," Draco replied condescendingly.

"But I'm actually referring to your impersonation of Mr. Niwa," Conan continued with Kogoro's voice.

Daisuke exclaimed, "What?" but Suichi merely gave a nod of the head.

"Yes. This evening, after the sculpture was stolen, you suspected Suichi Minamino of being the thief. To get proof, you mixed a makeup that allowed you to look like his friend Niwa, complete with a red-haired wig. But your personality is very different from Niwa's. Minamino could see right through you- so could anyone who took the trouble to observe you. It explains why we couldn't find Draco Malfoy when we began the interviews. You were still posing as Niwa, trying to get more information from other sources."

"Complete lunacy on so many levels," Malfoy said disbelievingly as he shook his head.

"Then answer me this," Conan challenged him. "You said you had been in your room from 9 to 9:30 PM, the time of the robbery, correct?"

Malfoy nodded, and Conan said, "Then explain to me why Ms. Autumn visited your room at 9:15 PM."

"She didn't!" Draco exploded. "Ms. Autumn was in the lounge until it was closed early, at 9:20 PM!"

"Yes," Conan confirmed with Kogoro's voice. "But you couldn't have known that. You were in your room at the time, and she had her interview with the police before we found you again. You learned she was in the lounge at 9:20 only when you impersonated Niwa and asked Minamino who was with him when the lounge closed. Conan and Minamino can both verify this. The final proof will be your DNA in the makeup we recovered from the sink in the men's room."

"Makeup!" Malfoy said in disbelief. That was hardly an accurate way to characterize Polyjuice Potion.

"I don't believe you stole the sculpture," Conan said fairly. "But if you really do admire Mr. Slytherin, and you learned anything that could help us, you need to share it now."

"Fine," Draco said grudgingly. "It is- well, a sort of disguise you found in the sink. I did impersonate Niwa. But I couldn't get any proof. I did learn this: Lady Une had seen Minamino near an exit the thieves could have used to escape- to the bath that you've been investigating all evening."

"Yet you no longer believe Minamino did it," Conan said probingly.

Draco's expression went from surprise to grudging reluctance as he allowed, "No, I don't. Thing's too big for one man to carry. I suppose he could've had those warts in purple carry it for him, and Minamino can't explain where he was at the exact time of the theft, nor why Lady Une saw him amongst the decorative foliage near one of the baths earlier this evening. But Shigure Sohma heard Minamino pass by his room at 9:27 PM. Sohma's room is on the way to the lounge, but it's too far from the lounge for Minamino to have made it in time for the robbery."

"I wondered why Niwa was being so inquisitive," Shigure murmured. "It was really you, then," he looked at Draco with amusement.

"How did you know it was Minamino?" Lady Une asked.

"I was on the phone with my editor," Shigure told her, "and I suppose I was being a little too earnest in my attempts to reassure her that I'd never, ever hide a manuscript from her again. Minamino called through my door and asked if I was all right. After telling him I was, I looked at the clock , wondering how late it'd gotten, and then resumed my call."

"Minamino wasn't the thief," agreed Conan, still using Kogoro's voice. "But I believe Minamino can shed some light on just what happened when the thieves ran into the bath."

"I see," Minamino replied neutrally, his face impassive yet nonthreatening. "How do you think I will be able to help?"

"There were signs of a struggle at the bath where the thieves tried to escape," Conan elaborated. "A woman screamed just before I arrived. Beside the baths were splashes of water, as though someone, or several people, had been thrown into the water. There were also leaves floating in the puddles."

Minamino neither said nor did anything to clear himself or implicate himself.

Conan therefore pressed on, "You were setting up a trap for the thieves, using some of the local vines. That was why Lady Une saw you amongst the decorative foliage at the baths. The woman who screamed is the thief we haven't caught. She was ensnared in Minamino's trap, but her henchmen in purple freed her. During the struggle, some of them were thrown into the water. The others escaped to the locker room during the confusion, hid the statue in the locker, and remained there to guard it. When I arrived, no one was to be seen. You were still hiding in the foliage, and all the thieves had turned invisible. Later, Conan told me you hung back at the bath. You were removing all evidence of the trap."

"And you're certain that I set the alleged trap?" Minamino inquired calmly.

"Yes," Conan confirmed. "Lady Une positively identified you as scrabbling in the dirt near the decorative foliage of one of the baths. Her room is nearby, and she was disturbed in her sleep. She came out to see what was happening, and saw you there."

"Very well," Minamino finally allowed. "I had indeed set a trap to catch the thieves. I hadn't counted on them being invisible, but the nature of my trap was such as to catch them regardless. The rest occurred as Mr. Mori said, although I didn't realize where they hid the statue until his brilliant deduction earlier."

"So you can't identify the perpetrator of the crime either?" Inspector Megure groaned. "Mori- _kun_ , usually when you collapse like that, you tell us who did the crime, not who didn't do the crime!"

"We're coming to that now; I just needed those last bits of evidence to be sure I had considered everything," Conan hastily assured him with Kogoro's voice. "Now we'll consider what we already knew. The lounge was broken into at both sets of double doors with two very different modus operandi- one put the policemen to sleep and picked the lock, while at the other door the guards were subdued with an electric shock and the door was burned. As the inspector suggested earlier, there were two perpetrators."

"One, of course," Conan restated the obvious, "was Phantom Dark. It was a genuine warning letter from him that the hotel received, and he was probably the one who sabotaged the lights so they'd go off at 9:29 PM. What he hadn't counted on was another thief coming for the prize he sought. This thief had help, and the ability to use electricity to attack. This explains why Ran, Conan, and I, saw Dark pursuing apparently invisible people and being attacked with electricity. He was trying to recover the statue for himself. He followed the thieves to the bath, but from the air it was hard for him to intervene in Minamino's ambush. Dark flew away, frustrated, leaving behind only a dark feather Conan found in the woods."

"So, what do you think about Tsume, the notorious thief in our midst?" Inspector Megure pushed. "He was seen outside near the time of the robbery!"

"Naturally, Inspector," Conan affirmed. "He was taking a walk like he told us. Hearing the commotion, he approached to take a look. But he was outside the resort's fence. Even if he wanted to intervene in Minamino's ambush, for Minamino or the thieves, the fence made it difficult to do so. Tsume never wanted the sculpture- he hasn't shown any interest in it at all."

Tsume grunted and smiled, commenting, "Finally, a human with a brain."

"We're coming to the conclusion of this mystery now," Conan told the group. "Phantom Dark, as we all know, didn't manage to steal the sculpture. So who did? We've managed to eliminate nearly everyone, except for three people: the manager, Lady Une, and Ms. Autumn."

"But as I said," Lady Une protested, "after I was awakened by Minamino setting up the trap, I went back to sleep, and was asleep until I was awakened by the commotion caused by the robbery."

"I was in my room as well," Amber Autumn stated.

The manager insisted, "I was doing my work as usual. Then the thief caused the blackout, and I went to check on the circuits."

Conan pronounced with Kogoro's voice, "One of the the three of you is lying."

All eyes were riveted on Kogoro's seated form.

Conan continued, "It can't be the manager. The lights were restored very quickly after the robbery occurred. The thief couldn't have run from the baths and restored the lights, then run to the lounge to join the inspector, in the time between the blackout and the time when the lights came on again."

"It can't," Conan pronounced another innocence, "be Lady Une either. She also had no interest in the sculpture. There's more evidence too. Her room is near the bath. She told us that the robbery woke her up. Now, if she were actually the robber, she would've had to leave the bath area, reenter her room, then exit it to join the crowd of spectators. But the crowd of spectators means that she couldn't have reentered her room from the inside even if she was invisible. Tsume didn't see anyone entering the rooms near the bath from the outside, and I think anyone would've noticed a door or window being opened by an invisible person. So Lady Une must be telling the truth; she was in her room."

"Then it was Ms. Autumn!" Daisuke exclaimed in shock.

"What proof have you?" Amber Autumn exclaimed.

"Very simple, Ms. Autumn," Conan told her. "You're the only woman at this resort who was unaccounted for at the time of the theft, and it was a woman who screamed. You also are the only person here who became wet in a most unusual way. Most everyone came to this hot springs resort to take a bath. But when they do so, they generally dry themselves off enough so as not to leave a trail of water into their room. Nor do they need quite as many towels as you do. Ms. Autumn, you did not intentionally take a bath this evening. Minamino's trap knocked you into the water at the hot springs you fled to with your henchmen. As soon as the coast was clear, you ran back to your room, leaving the trail of water. You ordered extra towels and an extra yukata from the housekeeping staff over the phone in your room. You used the towels to dry yourself off, and you changed your wet yukata for a spare dry one. I'm sure the housekeeping staff will be able to verify these requests from your room, and the time at which they took place."

"How dare you!" Ms. Autumn stood up angrily. Inspector Megure said warningly, "Miss, I think you'd better calm down, or I might be forced to restrain you."

Cyborg's attention flicked to one of the doors, and he shouted, "Incoming!" He switched his arm to a sonic cannon and fired, striking a previously invisible purple-cloaked man. Conan thought in horror, "Oh, no! I should've realized! A fourth one was always near to Ms. Autumn to protect her! Good thing Mr. Cyborg got him in time."

Conan had turned to watch him, and briefly turned his back on Ms. Autumn. He saw a bright flash reflected off the wall before him, and heard a small explosion. When he turned around, the immediate impression he had was that Autumn had thrown something to the ground, and everyone but he, Cyborg, and the unconscious Kogoro, was clutching at their eyes.

"A flash grenade!" Conan realized. "I never even anticipated that!"

Ms. Autumn ran towards the three purple-cloaked men tied up in the corner. They gurgled, "Mistress!"

Cyborg aimed his cannon at her, but she raised her arm and launched a bolt of electricity at him. Cyborg ducked, and Autumn fired more bolts at her comrades' bonds. The ropes burned through, they stood. With Ms. Autumn, they began to chant, "The beautiful ones must be destroyed!"

Conan ran from his hiding place and tried to find something to kick at them, while Cyborg dodged the lightning which the four enemies threw at him. Conan froze in surprise as Tsume suddenly lunged at the quartet of villains. For a moment, it almost seemed as though Tsume were a giant grey wolf, with a scar on his chest just like the one Tsume's human body had. The moment passed, and Conan saw Tsume holding a giant blade, wielding it so its point was towards the ground. Tsume was swinging viciously at the purple-robed men, who had surrounded Ms. Autumn. Tsume's eyes were still screwed shut from the blast, but his nostrils were repeatedly flaring wide. It almost looked like he was smelling them out. His strikes were frighteningly accurate, forcing the criminals to give up quite a bit of ground to avoid the slashes.

"Leave the source of Energy X!" Ms. Autumn commanded, gesturing towards the Serpentine Sculpture. "Retreat for the moment!" she ordered as she pointed towards the closest door. Immediately, she and the three conscious purple-robed men turned invisible, and Conan heard their footsteps leaving the room. Tsume and Cyborg followed.

Conan tried to follow, but it was hard, for he could not see them. Also, everyone else was beginning to recover their sight, and with various cries and exclamations, starting to stampede for the exits to the lounge. It looked like the purple-robed man Cyborg had stunned earlier was also escaping. To his extreme surprise, Conan saw Lady Une put on a pair of glasses- which he hadn't known she needed- and then pull out a hidden pistol. He hadn't time to tell anyone about this or see much else, as the awakening Kogoro accidentally knocked him over.

"What's going on?" Kogoro shouted blearily as he clambered to his feet, peering stupidly at Conan.

"The thieves are getting away!" Inspector Megure shouted, shaking his head to clear the last of the flashes lingering in his eyes. "After them, men!" He and the policemen charged into the halls as best they were able, their sight recovering from the flash grenade by degrees.

Conan ran into the halls as fast as he could, and felt a wind across his back. He looked up in time to see Phantom Dark fly down the hall from behind Conan. Dark went on before him, and disappeared around a bend.

As Conan hurried to follow, he heard a voice say, " _Serpensortia!_ " It sounded like Malfoy, in the room next to him. He turned to see a giant snake threatening something invisible, probably one of the dark-cloaked men. A lightning bolt flared out of nothing at the snake, confirming this theory. The snake dodged, and another bolt came at Malfoy. Malfoy was shouting, "Where is your leader!" Or at least that was what Conan thought Malfoy meant to say. For the bolt struck Malfoy's bracelet, and in midword, Malfoy began speaking English instead of Japanese as he had been. Malfoy retracted this arm with a snarl, but Conan noted that for some unfathomable reason Malfoy was brandishing a small wooden stick at the invisible enemy with his other arm.

Conan heard the sound of a pistol firing, and Cyborg's sonic cannon firing near the baths, and he ran toward the sound. He heard Cyborg shouting, "Twelve o'clock!" Next he heard another pistol shot and Cyborg confirmed in a loud voice, "Target wounded! You're a good shot, Une!"

Behind him, Conan heard Malfoy shout, " _Stupefy_!" and a body drop to the floor. Conan filed it in the back of his mind.

Somewhere nearby was another voice chanting in German, and Conan realized with a start that it was Phantom Dark. He ran towards it, hearing the clatter of many footsteps as he did so. It sounded like the policemen, Cyborg, and Lady Une were advancing towards the sound as well.

Conan found himself at the baths again. Tsume was engaged in hand-to-electric-bolt combat with a purple-robed villain who was visible at the moment. Phantom Dark was hovering in midair, flapping his wings, dodging this way and that to avoid blasts of electricity. He held a feather in front of his face and chanted softly in German, and a bolt of energy surged at the source of the invisible energy bolts. A figure appeared in the midst of the bolt and was flung backwards. It was Ms. Autumn.

She rolled and pulled another flash grenade out of her yukata. Conan groped about him for something to kick at her and started as Minamino ran up behind him, and without stopping, jumped an impossible height, to land on the fence. He was brandishing a long vine with huge thorns on it. Conan wondered where on earth he had found such a plant. Though it was clearly an organic life-form, he felt hard-pressed to call it natural. Minamino swung it at Ms. Autumn, and she barely avoided it. The stone pavement cracked under the force of the blow.

Just as Conan found a large decorative stone to use as a weapon, a bolt of electricity crackled beside him. He looked around to see yet another man in a purple robe nearby, taking aim at him. A moment later, a torrent of dogs swept out of the hotel, knocking the man in purple off his feet. Shigure Sohma followed them quietly, saying, "Nicely done, fellows. Thanks for your help. If you could just pin him down until the police get here, I'd appreciate it." As though the dogs could understand him, they planted their paws on the purple-robed man, grasped his arms in their teeth, and generally dogpiled him.

Meanwhile, Tsume grabbed the purple-cloaked man he had been fighting and threw him to the ground. For some reason, the man's cloak was torn where Tsume grabbed him, as though he had been bitten there. The villain groaned and lapsed into unconsciousness.

Conan turned to see Ms. Autumn turn invisible. He quickly dropped the rock towards his shoes and used all of the extra muscle power his technologically enhanced shoes provided, as well as all his soccer skills, to kick towards where he had last seen Ms. Autumn. He judged that he had struck her in the small of her back as she ran towards the fence, though it was hard to tell since she was still invisible.

Her cry of pain, though, was apparently enough. Dark launched a bolt of energy towards the source of that cry, and Minamino flung something small at it. Ms. Autumn reappeared after the bolt struck her. Conan then blinked. It almost looked as though a plant had grown around her and entangled her.

Inspector Megure and his men burst onto the scene. They, as well as Cyborg, Lady Une, and Draco Malfoy, had subdued two of the purple-cloaked men, and dragged them out with them. Conan counted quickly. The purple-cloaked man subdued by the dogs, and then there was the one Tsume had defeated; that made four henchmen. Conan nodded; he doubted there were any more.

Phantom Dark quickly flew away. Inspector Megure frowned but turned away and ordered his men to handcuff Ms. Autumn. Minamino calmly leapt down from the fence while Tsume sheathed his weapon. Lady Une had evidently reconcealed her firearm, although she was still wearing her glasses. Conan looked for the stick in Malfoy's hand, but Malfoy's hands were empty. Minamino's vine had also disappeared.

Kogoro and Ran boiled out of the hotel. Kogoro growled, "The veil comes off now!" He strode over to Ms. Autumn, and Ran followed.

Roughly Kogoro seized Ms. Autumn's veil and tore it off. Ms. Autumn screamed. Kogoro shone a flashlight on her face and exclaimed, "What on earth is the matter with you!"

"No! No! Don't look at me!" Ms. Autumn yelled as though she were in physical pain.

Conan ran towards her as Ran said in confusion, "What on earth were you wearing the veil for? You're not disfigured at all! You're gorgeous!"

"No!" Ms. Autumn wailed. "They all say that, all of them! But I know the truth! My scar, my disfiguring accident! It robbed me of my beauty! If I must be deprived of beauty, all must be deprived of beauty! Energy X will give me the power to do that!"

Conan could now see her face in the light of the flashlight and the light of the moon. He looked for a long hard moment before he found it- a small white scar on her cheek, nearly invisible.

* * *

A few days later, Kogoro was sitting in the office of his detective agency with Ran and Conan, reflecting on the lessons of their latest case.

"Women's vanity," Kogoro decided with a sad shake of the head, "is responsible for much of the mischief in the world. That woman was way too concerned with her appearance."

Conan thought to himself, "This coming from a man who chases any pretty face."

Ran eyed Kogoro with some annoyance. "Dad, I think some respect for one's appearance is entirely appropriate. For example, I think you ought to take more care of your appearance and not stagger around drunk whenever you have a night on the town. Speaking of which, I'm fairly sure that the statistics agree with me: male overindulgence in liquor causes quite a bit of crime. Amber Autumn is probably the only person whose female vanity caused a crime."

Conan chuckled nervously. Ran was always a force to be reckoned with in an argument.

* * *

Glossary:

Warning: Some Spoilers Possible!

Amber Autumn, alias Shadow: A supervillainess from the computer game Freedom Force.

Cyborg: A member of the world-famous Teen Titans, from the recent animated television series Teen Titans.

Energy X: A source of energy which gives humans extraordinary powers; it is the source of power for the superheroes and supervillains in the computer game Freedom Force.

- _kun_ : Japanese informal suffix for a male who is a friend. For example, Inspector Megure has a longstanding working relationship with Kogoro Mori, and so calls him Mori- _kun_.

Draco Malfoy: The wizard son of Lucius and Narcissa Malfoy, member of the Slytherin House at Hogwarts, from Harry Potter.

Suichi Minamino: The name of the great thief Kurama's human form, from Yu Yu Hakusho.

Daisuke Niwa: The current host of Phantom Dark, from D.N. Angel.

Polyjuice Potion: A potion from Harry Potter, which when drunk causes a person to look exactly like another person. Its ingredients are many, among them a hair from the person to be impersonated.

 _Serpensortia_ : A spell in the world of Harry Potter (or at least the second movie) which conjures a snake to threaten one's opponent.

Shigure Sohma: A novelist and member of the mysterious Sohma family from Fruits Basket.

 _Stupefy_ : A spell in the world of Harry Potter which knocks one's opponent unconscious.

Toffee palate: British expression for an upper class English accent

Tsume: A large grey wolf disguised as a human, from Wolf's Rain.

Lady Une: The easygoing and charming alter ego of brusque and ruthless Col. Une from Gundam Wing.

Yukata: A kimono associated with resorts and summertime

* * *

The Author Thanks Chalicity for pointing out that the Inspector's name is Megure, not Merogane

The Author Thanks These References For Their Background Material:

Wikipedia:

Case Closed, Richard Moore (Case Closed), Rachel Moore (Case Closed), Lady Une, Wolf's Rain, Freedom Force

: Freedom Force

**Author's Note:**

> The following disclaimer shall be construed so as to apply to all the fanfiction. The author does not own, and does not claim to own, anything copyrighted, trademarked, or otherwise owned by anyone else. The author does not claim to own Case Closed, or any other series', characters or events or jokes or concepts or dialogue, despite any usage of the above. All intellectual properties, copyrights, trademarks, and other items are the property of their respective owners.


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